You'll Dig Us, Baby
by Freelancer Mississippi
Summary: The Courier came to New Vegas seeking revenge, but wasn't expecting aftermath. Two teens decide that they need to exact vengeance on those who are responsible for the death of a brother.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter One

Daniel lit up a cigarette as we watched the final touches being put on the boxing ring in the Aces Theatre. "Boxing is so violent," Daniel mused. I laughed.

"It is the sport of the Wasteland. It also shows how crazy we are. Experiencing violence everyday out in the world, just to watch organized violence here," I said philosophically. I pulled out my flask and took a swing of my whiskey.

"Too bad Benny couldn't see this for himself. Your big brother was always hip and was a bit of a philosopher himself," Daniel said mournfully. Benny had been strangled to death about a week earlier.

"May he rest in peace!" I declared, raising my flask. Daniel bumped the whiskey flask with his hand. "Who do you think did it?"

Daniel shrugged. "I don't know. What do you think?" he asked.

"I don't know either," I responded. "It sucks though. I really want revenge. No evidence to prove who did it though."

"We could check his room. People miss stuff all the time," Daniel said. He stood up and marched to the door. I quickly joined him as he walked towards the elevator.

"We probably won't find anything," I reminded him. He rolled my eyes.

"Well, let us go see for ourselves," He said. We rode the elevator in silence. Finally we got to the 13th floor. We walked out and into Benny's suite. The bed still had an indent of him and another body. It was no secret that he was sleeping with someone when they killed him. We snooped around the bed, until Daniel found something. He held it up. I squinted. He was holding a long, brown hair.

"Check it out," he said. I scowled.

"Yeah, great job. Benny was sleeping with a girl. We already figured that!" I exclaimed.

"No, we know she has long brown hair," Daniel countered. I still rolled my eyes.

"Yeah, long, brown hair. Not like that describes half the prostitutes on the Strip or anything like that," I said sarcastically. Daniel glared at me but said nothing. Then his face changed to one of discovery.

"But think about this: what did we not find? We didn't find Maria or his suit. Which means all we have to do is find whoever stole those, then we can find who killed Benny!" Daniel exclaimed. I nodded.

"Better start searching then. We only have-" I checked the clock on the watch on my wrist- "10 hours before the boxing matches start tomorrow.

We took the elevator down to the main floor. As we walked out, I could have sworn tht Swank gave us a weird look from his position behind the front desk.

As we began to search the strip, we started talking to people. Luka, who sells holdout weapons to tourists claimed he had seen a few people leaving around that time, but would have to get a picture identification. After searching the half of the Strip that the tops was on, we began on the other side. That's when we decided to adapt a new strategy. And as I lay next to the prostitute in the bed located on Gomorrah's courtyard after a few rounds of banging, I decided that this way of questioning had been a great idea. I turned to her. She sleepily smiled.

"Verona, do you mind if I ask you a question?" I asked cautiously.

"Sure, Will," she replied.

"Have you ever been with another girl," I inquired. She didn't even open her eyes.

"Baby, if you pay me enough, I'll do whatever you want. So yes, I have," Verona said.

"Recently?"

"Yeah."

"Did she had long, brown hair?"

She sat up. "Yeah, why?" she asked now seeming very curious.

"I think she might have had something to do with the death of my brother," I said.

"Tragic what happened to him," she said, rubbing my chest soothingly. I sighed.

"Do you remember anything about her?" I asked.

"Her name was Theresa Lawsell. She did some job that required her to travel a lot. I'm not sure what it was exactly. She hired me a little over a week ago as a stress reliever. Honestly, I think she just wanted a free bed," Verona added bitterly.

"Thanks," I said as I rose. "Sorry, I have to go. Gotta get some rest before the boxing tournament tomorrow."

"Come back any time," she said as she also got up, tired, but knowing her break wasn't for a few hours. I walked back to the Tops alone, Danny having already left his company. As I walked past the reception desk, I could feel eyes watching me. I ignored them and took the elevator to the 7th floor. I slouched to the room I shared with Daniel. My cousin was sitting wide awake on his bed when I walked in.

"I've got nothing. Kay hadn't seen anybody like that in a while," Daniel said. "Did you find anything?"

"Yeah. Verona serviced a woman similar to the one we are looking for about a week and a half ago. Her name is Theresa Lawsell. Tomorrow, after the match, we can call up some contacts. For now let's get some sleep."

 **A/N: To clarify, the reason why they spoke so nonchalantly about Benny's death is because they are not mourning him anymore. They are more focused on possibly avenging him.**


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two

"And our opening fight features two up-and-coming stars of boxing. On one side of the ring, we have Jacques Leyton, from the White Glove Society. On the other we have William Shine, from the Chairmen!" The crowd cheered as I stepped into the ring and tapped gloves with Jacques. We traded jabs for a bit and finished the first round without serious injuries.

I sat on the stool they placed in the ring. I swilled a bit of water before standing up again. I looked at the bar. Daniel was standing there observing the crowd. Jacques and I tapped gloves again. The round began. He threw an uppercut. I moved back and hit him in the side with a right hook. He stumbled back a bit, giving me enough time to aim a punch directly to his forehead. He was knocked back onto the ground. He got up shakily, just to feel my right fist crash into his temple. He flopped over and the crowd started counting. _1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10!_ The referee called it a knockout and I raised my fist victoriously. I stepped out of the ring cautiously and embraced Daniel. I saw money changing hands.

"That was fantastic!" Daniel said.

"Yeah, but I need some whiskey before I can do anything else," I muttered. I watched the next two competitors enter the ring- Francois Legede, from the White Gloves, and a brute called Mario Veniccitti, from the Omertas- as Daniel grabbed a bottle of whiskey. He came back as the referee began the fight. I grabbed the bottle and took a large swig. I almost spat it out as I watched the fight.

Mario started swinging, and never stopped. Francois was trying to defend himself but Mario kept throwing hooks. Mario finally cornered him. He then finished him off, like a cat that has finally trapped the mouse. I whistled. "That was fast," I observed.

"No kidding," Daniel said as the crowd began to disperse. There would be two fights a day for a few days, but normally they went longer than this. Daniel's fight was tomorrow.

"I hope neither of us have to fight him," I said.

"If either of us gets to the championship round then we might have to," Daniel noted. He got up. "Ok, ready to visit Sarah?"

"Let's go," I said. We began to walk out and onto the Strip. The air was hot; the midday sun burned bright above them. They began walking towards the gate to the South Strip. The securitron said its standard goodbye of 'Thank you for visiting New Vegas' as we opened the gate and left the main part of the Strip. We walked into the lobby of the Vault 21. Immediately I was pulled into a hug by Sarah, the overexcited owner of the hotel.

"Hi, Will!" she squealed. She hugged Daniel and greeted him in the same fashion.

"How is all that Vault gear we got you?" I asked after she had stopped hugging Daniel.

"Great!" she said, beaming. "It's very popular with customers."

"Unfortunately, we come with sad news," I said. "My brother Benny died last week."

"Oh! That's awful. Who would do that?" Sarah asked.

"That's why we are here. We want to know if you recognize the name Theresa Lawsell. She has long brown hair," I said. Sarah gasped.

"She just delivered thirty vault jumpsuits yesterday! She's a courier for the Mojave Express," Sarah exclaimed. Daniel's eyes widened.

"Is she _the_ Courier? The one who was shot in the head?" he asked. Sarah nodded.

"Yeah, I saw it while she was giving me the suits. One fell and she bent down and I saw the scar," Sarah replied.

"Do you know where she might be right now?" I asked urgently. Sarah shook her head.

"It's fine," I said. I hugged her. She returned the embrace. "I might swing back by later!" I said after we broke apart.

"Ok!" she said as she walked towards the stairs that led to the hotel.

222

"Damn it! It's the Courier. The one who miraculously survived getting shot, then traveled miles, killing the convicts holding power in Primm, installing a former NCRCF inmate and ex-sheriff as the new sheriff, witnessing the destruction of Nipton, freeing the hostages from the Legion, negotiating the standoff at Boulder City, freeing Nelson from Legion control, before coming to New Vegas and possibly slept with, then killed your brother! How are we going to take care of this?" Daniel said. He was pacing in their shared room in the Tops.

"We can't kill her. Too noticeable, and apparently she won't die," I replied. Then I sat up. "The High Court. We can bring her before the High Court."

The High Court of New Vegas was a body consisting on nine individuals, three from each family. The head of each family, the second in command, and one representative that is elected from within the family are the delegates sent to the High Court.

"We have to find her, then alert a delegate from our family that a meeting is required, but it would work," Daniel agreed. I rose.

"Well let's get to it! We've still got a few hours before the sun sets," I said. We both exited the room and took the elevator down to the casino floor. When we exited, Daniel took a right instead of a left. "Where are we going?" I asked him as we headed to Outer Vegas.

"You'll see," he replied as we began trekking through an alleyway off of the main road. We stopped at a door. Daniel knocked twice quickly, then once hard. A skinny man with salt and pepper hair opened the door.

"Who is this, "he hissed, eyeing me suspiciously.

"A friend of mine. We need help, Cobra," Daniel explained. The man looked up and down the alley and then stepped aside gesturing for us to come in. He shut the door quickly behind him. There was a set of stairs leading up to what was robably a small bedroom. To our left was a small kitchen area. He beckoned us to the room to the right. I looked ahead and saw that the room was full of recording and computer equipment.

"What do you need?" Cobra asked, sitting down at the one that was clearly the main computer.

"We need to see the pictures that are being taken right now," Daniel said. Cobra grunted and began to type code on the computer. Daniel turned to me. "Cobra is a computer and electronics visionary. He has cameras set up around the Strip that he can control whenever he needs to. If she is on the Strip right now, we will see her," Daniel explained. A picture popped up on the large screen mounted on the wall. It showed the front of the Tops. The greeter was exactly where he should be, a few gamblers were entering.

And thus the process of scrolling through the most detailed scrapbook every created began. Some cameras were in obvious areas: mounted on street lights, hidden in trees, but others were in places that were just disturbing: the sides of gambling tables, the courtyard in Gomorrah, the upper floors in the Tops, the kitchen of the Ultra-Luxe. Suddenly, I saw her. "Stop!" I said loudly. Cobra glared at me but said nothing. We all looked up at the picture. She was standing in front of the reception desk in the Atomic Wrangler, talking with James Garrett. Cobra continued flashing pictures, which showed her move up the stairs and into the room on the corner. She shut the door.

"Let's go bust her," Daniel said as we stood. He tossed a bag of caps on the desk next to Cobra. "Thank you for your services," Daniel told him as I opened the door. Cobra nodded, and Daniel and I bolted to the main road. Now that we knew where Theresa was, we had to go tell our representative in order to call a meeting of the High Court and to get approval for the citizen's arrest. We dashed into the Tops, breathless. We don't see Swank or his right hand man, Jed. We do, however, see Reggie, the elected representative, surveying the floor.

"Reg," Daniel called to him as we approached. He turned to us.

"Yeah?" he asked, sounding bored.

"We've caught the killer of Benny. We need a meeting of the High Court. We are making the citizen's arrest right now," I explained. He looked interested and alert now.

"I'll call the meeting right now and set the meeting for tomorrow after the fights," Reg said, then turned and walked towards the Four Aces. We strolled out on to the Strip and began to go towards Freeside. We sped up to a light jog as we moved out of the gate from the Strip. Several members of the Kings eyed us suspiciously, but did not outright shoot at us.

We sped around the corner, almost running over the Silver Rush crier. We dodged him at the last second, then slowed to a brisk walk as we walked into the Atomic Wrangler. We strolled in. There were some gamblers milling about and a weak comedian performing on stage. There was a ghoul dressed as a hooker and a robot standing in the corner. "The hell do you want?" asked Francine Garrett. We ignored her as we marched up the stairs. We stopped at the corner room. "That room is occupied," Francine called up, sounding annoyed.

"Yeah, we know that," I sneered at her. I kicked the door. With a sickening crack, it fell off of its hinges and into the room. Theresa sat bolt upright in her bed and whipped out a .45 pistol. Almost simultaneously, we both drew silenced .22s. "You're outgunned. Drop your fucking gun," Daniel ordered. Theresa took a second to think about it.

"Drop it!" I shouted as I shot the gun out of her hand. Daniel kicked the gun away and pulled her out of bed. It was a good thing we didn't shoot her; she had been wearing body armor. He yanked her hands down behind her back as I recited the lines from all the old world movies I had seen: "Theresa Lawsell, you are under arrest for the murder of Benjamin "Benny" Shine."


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

The walk back to the Tops had been relatively easy; the Kings had been agitated, and I was sure that the King found out that Theresa had been arrested before we even entered the Strip. We tossed her in the Presidential Suite; fitting for somebody who was admired by everybody to be imprisoned in a palace. Then I stood outside the door all night. I wasn't tired; my rage kept me going. Daniel slept until 5, then I slouched off to bed at his insistence. It took me a while, but eventually I fell asleep.

333

"Hey," I caught up to Jacques Leyton prior to Daniel's fight. "Listen, one boxer to another, I need a favor." Jacques nodded; the young boxers of the Strip had a code, and if one asked for a favor, you couldn't refuse. "I need you to go and guard the Presidential Suite."

Jacques grunted as I handed him the key. I tuned back to the ring to see Daniel getting ready to fight his opponent: Santiago, a thin, scrawny boxer who still had enough muscle that he might be a threat. The fight began, and the crowds started yelling in support of their fighter. Santiago hit well; he definitely landed a few punches on Daniel. Daniel, however, was much quicker. He dodged many punches, and threw his own. His punches were weaker, though more numerous. It took Daniel four rounds and a busted lip to finish off Santiago.

"Well, I won," Daniel mumbled as he took a swill of water. I looked at him, amused.

"Yeah, but did you really?" I asked teasingly, gesturing to his face. He socked me in the arm. "Alright, I get it. You won. Now, we need to check on Theresa." Daniel murmured his assent as we walked to the elevator. We arrived at the Presidential Suite to find a wide-eyed Jacques struggling against a door which was taking quite a beating.

"She realized I wasn't either of you and she started trying to escape," Jacques explained. I laughed as I drew out a 9mm pistol. I flung open the door and shot the wall. Theresa jumped back.

"Quit banging on the door, baby. You'll be out of here in no time," I laughed, slamming the door. I proceeded to sit on one of the stools next to the bar. I filled two glasses with whiskey. I sipped my glass as Daniel took the other. "A toast. To catching the murderer and to success in the ring." We clinked glasses.

333

We talked and drank most of the day, waiting for Reggie to call us on the intercom. Eventually, he buzzed. "Guys, the High Council has agreed to meet, but not within New Vegas. They want something like this farther out. They say they are going to hold it in Vault 11. Where nobody will look. Guards will be at the suite at noon tomorrow. Tell Theresa she needs to come up with some names of people to vouch for her at her trial. Remember you also need people to vouch for you."

"Thanks Reg. We appreciate you setting this up for us," I said warmly.

"No problem, Will," Reggie replied, when the intercom fell silent. I walked over to the door and yanked it open. Theresa fell out; clearly she had been sitting with her back leaned up against the door. I prodded her with my foot.

"Hey, you need to think about the people who would promote you and say you had nothing to do with this. They just might save you," I explained. She gave a mumbled "OK" and stood. Not fighting anymore, she moved back into the room, and I shut the door. "We should probably get some sleep, I said to Daniel.

"How about you get the first watch, and you can wake me up in a few hours, then I'll take watch?" Daniel asked as he himself began to move towards the other bedroom.

"Goodnight," I said mockingly as he shut the door. I reclined back on the chair.

333

After a few hours, I woke up Daniel. He slouched out and collapsed onto the couch. I sat down on the bed and reclined back. I couldn't go to sleep though, because a million thoughts were pouring through my head. I eventually gave up trying to sleep. I got up and stumbled over to the dresser. I opened it to see if there was anything interesting inside. There was a lone book. I picked it up and looked at the back cover.

It was what had been considered a classic in the Old World. It followed a son who was reluctant to work for his father, but ended up becoming exactly what his father was through a series of calculated acts of revenge. Sounded appropriate for the moment. I opened and began to read.

By the time the sun rose, I had arrived at the part where the father was shot on the street. Daniel walked in. "Hey," he said. I put down the book.

"Hey," I replied. Daniel gestured to the old clock in the room.

"You're fighting today! We forgot in our revelry yesterday!" Daniel exclaimed. My eyes got wide.

"We need to go then."

333

I dodged the punch that was aimed for my head; my opponent, Santino, was fairly big. I could only use my speed. But it was getting tougher and tougher to dodge. I threw an uppercut, which threw Santino off a bit, but not by much. He threw me into one of the corner poles.

My vision blurred, I glimpsed Daniel shouting from the front of the stands. He seemed to be mouthing "throat, throat". I mustered up my last reserves of strength and punched him as hard as I could in the throat. He was knocked back. I slowly wobbled over, cocked back my first, and threw a hook into his temple. He crumbled.

The crowd cheered as I raised my fist weakly. I was helped out of the ring. "Now, we just need to make it to the stupid trial." Daniel helped me limp through the lobby. That's when I promptly passed out.

 **A/N: Hey guys! I would really appreciate any reviews on this. I've got a direction that I'm going with this story, but I need to know that somebody wants to read it! Criticism is appreciated too!**


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

"You really are peaceful when you are sleeping," Daniel said as I woke up. It was hot and I was moving back and forth. I sat up and promptly fell off the Brahmin I was laying on the back of. I looked around. The Strip was off in the distance, while there appeared to be some sort of roadside stop in front of us. I noticed that there was a sign labelled _95_ on the side of the road.

"It took us a few hours to get here, immensely helped by Private Johnny Reez, who loaned me his uniform and a duffle bag to carry you in. The NCR let me carry you across the monorail. Granted, they believed you were a duffle bag filled with food, but still. After that, we left Camp McCarran, outside of which I stored the armor. Hopefully it will be there when we get back, but if not, we have plenty of cps to pay Pvt. Reez back. So then I bought this Brahmin off of some sucker who accepted some Legion money, and we've been walking ever since," Daniel told me as I stood and walked beside the Brahmin.

"How far are we do you think that we are from Vault 11?" I asked as we began to walk through a small valley between a ridgeline and another hill. As we turned, we began to follow the ridgeline south.

"Not far," Daniel replied. "It's built into this ridgeline if I remember correctly." Daniel had gone to Vault 11 before in order to get Vault suits.

"Any ideas who we can call forward to vouch for us?" I asked. Daniel nodded.

"I've got a few testimonies and and some people waiting to talk on the radio," Daniel replied.

"The Chairmen will stand behind us right?" I asked next.

"I hope so," Daniel said. "But you never know what a murderer will do to escape justice." We continued walking in silence, letting Daniel's statement sink in. _What happens if the Chairmen don't stand behind us?_ I thought as we rounded the corner of the ridge to approach the door. A securitron kept guard outside. Several footlockers had been scattered around.

"Please put your weapons inside a locker," the Securitron blared. We began unpacking ourselves. In Daniel's case, this was almost literal. As I had passed out, I didn't have anything but my 9 millimeter. I hadn't gotten time to get anything else. Daniel had gotten his weapons together, because he really was packing. He pulled out his silenced .22 pistol out of his holster, but the proceeded to dump a set of brass knuckles from both of his sleeves, pull a .357 revolver from his sock, take a 12.7 mm pistol out of his coat, and remove a .44 magnum revolver from his shirt. Then he proceeded to unbutton his pants and take a straight razor out of his boxers and take a sawed off shotgun from its place pressed against his thigh.

"Wow. You really came to this armed," I commented when he was finished. He smirked as we walked past the securitron into the Vault.

"There's one weapon that I didn't leave behind, if you know what I mean!" he exclaimed, fist bumping me. I snorted with laughter. One of the White Gloves brushed by with a sound of disgust. One of the councilmen, I presumed as I watched him turn down one of the corridors. We followed him into the cigar lounge, where several member of the High Court were already gathered. Swank, his second in command Jed Hatly, and the elected representative Reggie were all there; Alfredo, the elected representative from the Omertas was sitting a bit away, smoking a cigarette. The White Glove Society member who had walked past us, Jean Lefleur, was sitting next to his boss, Marjorie. Another member of the White Glove Society stumbled in; he had a black eye and a cut on his forehead. He extended his hand to us.

"Great to see you guys again. I'm Francois Legede," he said. I smiled warmly and thanked him for coming. Francois had been the boxer knocked out by Mario Veneccitti. He joined his two fellow White Gloves. Theresa was handcuffed in a chair, smirking like a smug bitch. I wanted to go knock some sense into her, but I restrained myself. We adjourned to the Vault's classroom to prepare. Daniel pulled out a few papers. "Ok, so here is the Van Graffs' statement. It's basically saying that they briefly hired the Courier to do some guard work. Turns out she killed a man while he was trying to get in. The Van Graffs' have a score to settle, so they offered to provide anything necessary to take the Courier down.

"Next we have a testimony from an anonymous Kings gang member who claims Theresa caused Pacer to overdose on Psycho by poisoning his food. That might be useful.

"Finally, we have radio contact with two people. The first is Ariel. She's a prostitute who witnessed the murder of one Caleb McCaffery, a bounty hunter from Freeside. The second comes from Eddie, who currently runs the NCR Correctional Facility. He knows for a fact that she killed three of his men at a place called Jean Sky Diving and another five which were led by a guy named Joe Cobb."

"Well, it will have to be enough. Look who just showed up," I said as I pointed to the hallway. Cachino, the current boss of the Omertas, and his second in command Salvadore just strolled past the classroom and into the Cigar lounge. "Let's go get some justice" I said.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

"The Van Graffs claim that while working for the Silver Rush, Theresa Lawsell attacked a customer and disintegrated him with a plasma rifle," Daniel argued. We were allowed to present our evidence first because we had Strip passports.

"As we have shown by this testimony from her former employers, the Van Graffs, she is quite capable of murder. We also have testimony from a member of the gang known as the Kings. He claims that while patrolling the hallways, he saw the Courier, whom he identified as Theresa Lawsell, leaving the room of a King named Pacer. The next day, Pacer was found dead. A Follower of the Apocalypse doctor identified the cause as an overdose of the drug known as Psycho. This shows that the Courier has a dark side which allows her to kill helpless victims.

"Next we have two radio interviews," Daniel said, flipping on the ham radio he had set up in the corner of the cigar lounge. He tuned it to the right station. "Hello? Ariel? Are you there?"

There was a slight pause before a woman's voice said "Yeah, I'm here Daniel."

"Tell the Court what you told me," he encouraged. I glanced at Cachino and found him whispering to Salvadore. Probably telling him that Ariel needed to disappear or overdose of Med-X.

"Well, it was late at night," Ariel began, interrupting my thoughts. "I was working the Strip side that night. All the soldiers were drunk, and so I was putting on a little show for them. There was one man who wasn't drunk, Caleb something. He was a bounty hunter. He looked proud. The Courier came up to him, and had a discussion. I don't know what it was about but it was angry. Then she pulled out a pistol and shot him. She took his gun and his hat, and left his body out. Then she walked away, smiling, not caring that she had just killed a man," Ariel finished.

"Thank you, Ariel," Daniel said into the radio. He then turned to the court. "The killing of this bounty hunter, identified as Caleb McCaffery, shows that she is a ruthless killer, with no regard for life. We have one more radio interview." HE gestured to me, and I tuned the radio to the right channel. "Eddie? Please respond, over."

There was a crackling over the radio, then a faint voice said "This is Eddie. We haven't fixed the radio yet, so don't expect it to be great quality.

"That's fine. Just tell us about Joe Cobb," I reassured. He began his tale.

"Well, we repulsed the NCR and drove them out of the NCRCF. Now I'm in charge here. A group of us went to Goodsprings to track down a trader who cheated us named Ringo. The group was led by my fried Joe Cobb. A spy who visited Goodsprings sometime later claimed that the entire group, including Joe Cobb, had been killed by a Courier. Theresa is known for leaving out of Goodsprings, therefore being one of the few Couriers that could be the Courier who killed my friends," Eddie said. There was a fizzle, and we lost the signal.

"Well, that is that. The Courier killed a group of men who were seeking to get justice. How is that fair? This concludes our evidence." I winked at Daniel. We still had one more surprise up our sleeve, but it wasn't time to use it. Marjorie, as the oldest person on the council (age matters in these things), asked "Ms. Lawsell, do you have a rebuttal?" Theresa stood.

"Yes, I do. During my employ with the Van Graffs, I was attacked by a man looking to murder my employers. He opened fire on me and my co-worker Simon, and I killed him in self-defense. Caleb McCaffery's death was caused by his thievery; he stole from the Garrets, who have every right to ask me to go get the caps back. He refused to give them back and resisted as I tried to get him to come back and pay up. So I shot him and took his hat as proof, just like Francine Garret asked. Joe Cobb and his gang threatened to burn down a small town of innocents. They fought against me and the town militia. That wasn't murder, it was a battle between an aggressor and a town militia," Theresa rebutted. I silently made a mental note that she had not disputed the argument that she might have killed Pacer.

"Defendant, do you have any evidence to present?" Marjorie asked in the formal way that was standard in court.

"Indeed I do," Theresa said. What followed was two hours of written and radio testimony. Manny Vargas talked of her restoring hope in Novac, while Julie Farkas, James Garret, and The King all spoke of her good deeds in Freeside. Veronica Santangelo, a scribe from the Brotherhood of Steel, recounted how Theresa had peacefully negotiated with the Mojave Chapter of the Brotherhood of Steel. One Craig Boone spoke of her freeing of two Powder Ganger prisoners after killing Legionaries at a small camp. Even Loyal, one of the reclusive Nellis Boomers, called and told the Court about all her work around Nelson. "Having heard from these prominent figures, can't you see that I am a good person?" she concluded. After all this, she shot us a smug glance. We, however had one more thing. A trump card.

"Wait! We have one more thing!" Daniel cried. He pulled out a weapon he had not stowed in the footlocker. "This was found in her possession," he said as he brandished Maria, Benny's signature pistol. Marjorie nodded.

"We will take that into account. Court adjourned for an hour for discussion. You three," Marjorie pointed to Daniel, Theresa, and I before continuing "can wait in the hallway or the classroom. We three all dipped out heads and left. Theresa ducked inside the classroom, and we certainly didn't want to be near a murderer.

"Do you think we will win?" Daniel asked me when we had sat down.

"We must have. Maria is compelling evidence that Theresa was at least complicit in the murder, even if she didn't commit it herself," I said. We sat, talking about more mundane topics, until Alfredo retrieved us. We sat as Theresa was brought in. Custom dictated that each judge would reveal their vote and then the majority and dissenting opinions would be presented.

Alfredo revealed his vote: Guilty. Off to a good start. Reggie revealed his vote: Guilty. Francois revealed his vote: Guilty. Three guilties. That was fast.

The second in commands then showed their votes. Jed voted: Not guilty. I was shocked that he, a Chairmen, would not understand that she wronged his family. He didn't meet my eyes. Jean Lefleur voted: Not guilty. Salvadore voted: Guilty. Daniel tensed. He clearly realized what I had. We needed one more Guilty to be able to pass the death penalty on Theresa. The leaders then began to reveal their votes.

Cachino voted: Not guilty. I snorted. I wasn't surprised; Cachino probably wanted to bang her. Marjorie then voted: Not guilty. It was 4-4. Swank was the tie breaker. He then revealed his vote. My heart skipped a beat. It read: Not guilty.

Theresa had gotten off.

"The majority of us believe that Theresa Lawsell kills in self-defense and for employment reasons only. There is no evidence of her killing Benny Shine. She could have found his gun anywhere," Cachino said as he delivered the majority opinion. I gritted my teeth in fury.

"The minority opinion believes that the Courier, Theresa Lawsell, murders mostly in self-defense, but also in self-interest. There was no real motive that could condone a murder, in our opinion. We believe that she should receive the death penalty," Francois read off from a scrap of paper the minority opinion had been written on.

"Court dismissed," Marjorie declared. Several armed guards came in and released Theresa from her handcuffs. She smirked at us and walked out. We were shell-shocked. I was brought out of it by Francois talking. "Come to the Ultra-Luxe tonight. We need to talk." He then left.

"How could they rule in favor of her? She clearly killed him!" Daniel shouted. I nodded. I pulled out a mint tin and popped some Mentats. I felt the relaxing feeling of chems flowing through my body.

"I don't know Daniel. But we will get our revenge. Make no mistake. It's all in the book I left in our room. But we have a date at the Ultra-Luxe that we simply can't miss."


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

We stormed into the Gourmand, still angry about the verdict. We had changed into our nice suits (not our work suits). Francois waved us over. We sat down at the two empty chairs. Two other people were already sitting with Francois. One was Jacques Leyton, the boxer I knocked out. Hew gave me a handshake and a "Sorry". Francois introduced the other as Louis "Lou" Defaux, who was actually up to fight me tomorrow.

"So, why did you call us here?" Daniel growled. I made a down motion with my open hand, trying to tell him to calm down. I was pissed, but knew that we shouldn't direct our anger at them. Francois didn't take it to heart.

"I invited you for a few reasons. First, I wanted to explain the reason why I was the only one to vote guilty today," Francois said. I gestured for him to continue. "Corruption. Corruption and favoritism. See, Theresa saved the more powerful White Gloves like Marjorie and Jean from eating what was believed to be human meat. So, Marjorie made her a member of the White Glove Society. She favors the Courier," Francois finished.

"Really?" I said. I wondered if Swank was similar in that he was a bit corrupt.

"Really. But that is not the only reason I called you here," Francois said.

"The other reason is that we all want revenge on the Courier," Jacques said.

"Why do you guys want revenge?" I asked.

"After Marjorie found out about Mortimer, she had a purge. It was quiet and behind closed doors, but she had one. The first sign of it was when my cousin, Philippe, who was also the chef, was found with his wrists slit in a bathtub. In the day following, seven other members were found dead, including Lou's brother Pierre, who had been beaten to death in a hotel room," Francois said. I looked at Jacques.

"Mortimer was my dad. Nobody knew it. I disagreed with him on the whole cannibalism thing,but still, family is family. I'm sure you understand that." He gestured to me. I nodded.

"So what do you need us to do?" Francois said, leaning forward.

"Nothing yet. I've been reading this Old World book. When the time is right, I'll get into contact. After the tournament is over, then we can talk more about what I am planning."

66666666

Fighting Lou Defaux was simple. The theatre was packed, as this was the first semi-final. Lou was no fool; he and I went 9 rounds before I managed to knock him out with a hook to the temple. I scanned the audience for Daniel, but I didn't see him. I stepped off the stage unsteadily. I downed a shot of whiskey from a random spectator, and my head began to clear. I walked to the elevator and went up to my room. Daniel wasn't in there either. I took a shower, which was cold as usual, and put on my suit. I headed downstairs. As I exited the elevator, I heard commotion coming from the reception area. I ran over. I had found Daniel. He was currently being arrested by a NCR Military Policeman.

"What's going on?" I exclaimed as I stopped in front of the policeman. He looked me up and down.

"He was assaulting Mr. Swank. He has been charged with assault," the military policeman responded gruffly. I looked at Daniel.

"It was for good reason!" Daniel shouted. With that, the policeman roughly pulled him out of the Tops. I went over and banged my fist opn the wall.

"Fuck," I said. I had just lost my closest compatriot.

666666666

"Well, as some of you know, Daniel Hanson, the boxer that was supposed to fight Mario Veneccitti, has been arrested. This means that Mario Veneccitti will move on to the final against William Shine and will fight tomorrow. You can be sure that Daniel is feeling just like Guy Mitchell, because they both have Heartaches by the Number." The tune of the popular song played from the radio after Mr. New Vegas made his announcement. I downed my fifth shot of vodka. When I had gone earlier to try and see Daniel, the Military Police wouldn't let me in.

"If only you could see the reason Daniel assaulted Swank," David said. David was our bartender. He poured me another shot. In the middle of this drunken haze I made a realization. Cobra. Cobra must have some sort of camera that could help us.

6666666666

"What is it exactly you are looking for?" Cobra said, scanning the monochrome images. He was sitting in his chairs in front of his monitors. I stood behind him, leaning on the back of his chair.

"Anything. Any reason he would flip. Suspicious behavior of Swank," I said. We flipped through a few more images of the assault. It was basic; Daniel opens the door to Swank's room, comes in, gets pushed out by Swank and the men fight. "Wait. Go to the receptionist desk at 7:00," I said. Cobra typed a few lines of code and the image of the desk rendered on the screen. We flipped through images with no success until 13:30, when Some lady walked into the Tops and up to Swank. She and Swank talked for a moment, then he led her to the elevator. "Follow them," I ordered.

Cobra grumbled something about being bossed around, but he complied. We flashed up to the 14th floor. The couple was making out. They turned, and I gasped.

The woman was Theresa Lawsell.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

"And now, the moment you have all been waiting for, give it up for William Shine and Mario Veneccitti!" The crowd screamed as we both got into the arena. I was still furious that Swank would be in relations with a murderer and my enemy. Mario was a hulk; but I wasn't thinking about that as the round began. He stepped cautiously towards me. I circled back towards the edge of the ring. Suddenly, just like lightning, Mario was on me, He punched me in the upper abdomen and I felt a few ribs break. I howled. I focused my anger and I punched him straight in the face.

He fell back a bit, and, shouting gibberish at the top of my lungs, I jumped on him. I began to hit him over and over. All I could see was red. Suddenly, I felt the referee pulling me off of Mario. My vision cleared, and I realized what I had done. I had massacred Mario's face; his nose was clearly broken, several teeth were scattered around, and there were cuts on his cheeks and his forehead. It looked like his jaw might have been broken too.

"Ladies and gentlemen, give it up for the New Vegas boxing champion, William Shine of the Chairmen!"

7777777

The parties lasted throughout the night. I enjoyed much alcohol. I woke up with a random girl in my bed. After treating her to a nice breakfast at the restaurant downstairs, I returned up to the Four Aces. I sat at the bar for a few hours, the alcohol clearing my head. I knew that the first thing we needed to do was kill Theresa. I needed to kill her myself. As I sipped my fourth glass of Nuka and Whiskey, a man sat down next to me. He was dressed like a trader, with black hair and green eyes.

"One beer," the man said, and David served him. He then turned to me. "Had I not seen you fight yesterday, I might have killed you. You are the cause of all my problems."

"How the fuck have I caused your problems?" I growled. He laughed.

"My name is Johnny Reez. When I loaned your friend Daniel my uniform, it was found out. I was kicked out of the army by Colonel Moore. Now I have no job. All because I gave your friend my uniform," Johnny explained. I remembered borrowing it of course. Then I began to think of the potential of this situation.

"Do you still have your old uniform? And side arms?" I asked him.

"My uniform I do have. Ironic that they let me keep the very thing I was fired for. My side arms were kept though," he replied.

"Soldiers are paid 285 NCR dollars a month right?" When the soldier nodded, I continued. "So that is 114 caps, making it 1,368 caps a year. So here's the deal. I'll pay you 1,400 caps in casino chips, which you can cache in with the teller. The chips will be diversified among the various casinos so it can't be traced. This is for one job, but if you like the work, We can keep you on."

"Ok. That sounds excellent. What do I need to do?" Johnny asked earnestly.

"I'll explain when I get you the chips. I will also get you a standard issue 5.56mm service rifle and a 9mm pistol. Meet me tonight at 20:00 and we can discuss it further," I said. I shook his hand, and I left him. There were several things to do.

77777777

Getting the chips from the Ultra Luxe was easy; all that had required was a quick talk with Jacques. The Tops chips, of course, were easy to acquire. Getting Gomorrah chips would be harder. I walked into the lobby, where I was forced to disarm. As I walked over to the cashier's desk, I got many dirty looks from the dealers. Right before I could step up to the window, A firm hand clapped down on his shoulder and led him away.

"Hey buddy," a deep voice said. I looked over. Santiago was currently diverting me from my target. Another, scrawnier man who I recognized as Santino stepped up and walked on the other side of me.

"We're going to take you to somebody. He wants to say hi," Santino said. They practically dragged me out into the courtyard and into the corner area. Mario was sitting there. His face had stitches from where the Auto-Doc had fixed him up. "We brought him."

"William Shine. You beat me. But you didn't act rational like you normally do. Why?" Mario asked. And, without hesitation, the whole story spilled out, about the murder, about the courier, about the trial. I don't know why I told them. When I was done, Mario laughed.

"Cachino voted that way because of the Courier's assistance," he said. I looked at him inquisitively. "See, Cachino was actually on the verge of execution, when the Courier showed up and they killed Nero and Big Sal."

"Really? And why are you telling me this?" I asked politely.

"I have a lot of respect for you. You beat me. That earns my respect. If you ever need a favor, don't hesitate to ask," Mario said. I rose and shook his hand.

"Thank you. I'll be in touch"

777777777

"Here are your chips," I said, placing three sleeves of chips on the table. "500 from the Tops, 450 each from the Ultra-Luxe and Gomorrah." I set a briefcase on the table. We were sitting in the Vault 21 diner. I opened the briefcase to reveal a 9mm pistol and a service rifle, the service rifle bought from Mick in Freeside, the 9mm taken off of a rowdy guest. "Now, the job. When I go to dinner at the Gourmand tomorrow, this is what you are going to do…"

I told him the plan.

"Ok," he said, nodding. "I'll do it. We can pull it off."

"Good. Remember that the time you need to come in is at the end of my dinner. About 19:00. Or whenever you hear screaming." We chatted a bit more on less serious topics.

I left the vault. I had a hunch on where I should go to set up my meeting. I trudged over into the Tops and took the elevator. I got out and knocked on Swank's door. Swank opened the door, looking more red than normal.

"Tell Theresa that I want to meet her for dinner tomorrow night at 18:00 at the Gourmand. Thanks." I left briskly, leaving Swank standing in the doorway.

 **A/N: To be clear, the soldiers pay was based off of the 2016 pay for Private E1. It was converted using the exchange rate from 2016 dollars to 1961 dollars,1961 being the time culture supposedly stopped. Then I used the bottle cap value of $1.69 in 1961 to convert to caps, then used the 1 to 2.5 exchange rate between NCR dollars and caps to derive the pay. See Gametheory's video on the value of bottle caps.**


End file.
